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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
46
MARCO POLO BOOK L
is past all bounds, so in that season they quit this country
and go to a warmer region, where they find other good
pastures. [At a castle called PAIPURTH, that you pass in
going from Trebizond to Tauris, there is a very good
silver mine.3]
And you must know that it is in this country of
Armenia that the Ark of Noah exists on the top of a
certain great mountain [on the summit of which snow is
so constant that no one can ascend ; 4 for the snow never
melts, and is constantly added to by new falls. Below,
however, the snow does melt, and runs down, producing
such rich and abundant herbage that in summer cattle
are sent to pasture from a long way round about, and it
never fails them. The melting snow also causes a great
amount of mud on the mountain].
The country is hounded on the south by a kingdom
called Mosul, the people of which are Jacobite and
Nestorian Christians, of whom I shall have more to tell
you presently. On the north it is bounded by the Land
of the Georgians, of whom also I shall speak. On the
confines towards Georgiania there is a fountain from
which oil springs in great abundance, insomuch that a
hundred shiploads might be taken from it at one time.
This oil is not good to use with food, but 'tis good to
burn, and is also used to anoint camels that have the
mange. People come from vast distances to fetch it, for
in all the countries round about they have no other oil.'
Now, having done with Great Armenia, we will tell
you of Georgiania.
s
NOTE I.—[ERZINJAN, Erzinga, or Eriza, in the vilayet of Erzrum, was rebuilt in 1784, after having been destroyed by an earthquake. " Arzendjan," says Ibn Batuta, II. p. 294, " is in possession of well-established markets ; there are manufactured fine stuffs, which are called after its name." It was at Erzinjan that was fought in 1244 the great battle, which placed the Seljuk 'Turks under the dependency of the Mongol Khans.—II. C.] I do not find mention of its hot springs by modern travellers, but Lazari says Armenians assured him of their existence. There are plenty of others
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